Global terrorism background to suspense novel

Global terrorism background to suspense novel

5 September 2016

News of the harrowing toll of human life in a distant disaster led author David Briggs to write a novel about a group of people overshadowed by a growing threat that they cannot see.

Although he has written three novels, “The Direction of Our Fear” is the writer’s first published. Published by BMS Books Ltd, a boutique publishing imprint of Business Media Services Ltd, the book is set to be launched on 22 September in Nelson.

A former professor at universities in the United Kingdom, Briggs is now based at Ruby Bay, near Nelson.

He says most of his writing starts with a moment of reflection out of which a question or a dilemma worth exploring emerges. “The Direction of Our Fear” started in the same way as Briggs read about a deadly building collapse in Bangladesh.

“I found myself wondering why we care so much about the suffering and death of people we know, or think we know – even film-stars, royalty, characters in books – yet give so little value or thought to those countless millions we don’t know.”

This seemed a question worth pursuing through a novel, so he searched for a theme that would illustrate the quandary.

The story is told in real time through the interwoven experiences of four characters. On the Kapiti Coast, the lives of three people intersect as they travel on the morning commuter train to Wellington.

Sally is a 17-year-old schoolgirl, stepping tentatively into womanhood. Brendan is middle-aged, Irish, a widower, trying to move on from the death of his wife some years before. Tamas is a Hungarian immigrant, struggling to lay the foundations of a new life in New Zealand for his wife and son.

Farida, a young Muslim woman, acts as a translator for the security services in Dunedin. While she works, she catches ambiguous glimpses of a terrorist plot that threatens to engulf them all.
As the characters pursue their dreams and face up to their everyday fears, the reader watches them grapple with love and loss and the tangles of relationships, and inevitably dreads their impending fate.

Briggs says writing “The Direction of Our Fear” has been a compelling journey during which he found an answer to his initial question. “We care for those with whom we can empathise. It’s an empathy that I hope readers will feel for the characters in this story.”

Book Details:
Author: David Briggs
15.24 x 22.86 cm (6” x 9” )
Black & White on White paper
248 pages
Publisher; BMS Books and imprint of
Business Media Services Ltd
ISBN: 978-0-473-34965-3
BISAC: Fiction / Suspense
RRP: $49.00

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